In the U.S., Monotonix’s rough rocking finds a home

Q&A: Yonatan Gat, guitarist for the hard rock trio Monotonix

Before coming to America, the members of the Israel-based rock trio Monotonix discovered something important about their homeland: Kibbutz audiences aren’t fans of being covered in ketchup or sprayed with gravel.

But that was four years ago, before Tel Aviv residents Yonatan Gat (guitar), Ami Shelev (vocals) and Ran Shimoni (drums) found the right kind of audience for their brash, energetic brand of rock’n’roll.

“In Israel, they have more things to worry about than in many places, so the culture isn’t very progressive, and our shows caught people off-guard,” he explained, referencing the Kibbutz gravel bath. “The audience was always into it, but people were always complaining about the noise, so we had a lot of shows stopped by cops.”

In June 2006, the band made its North American debut on a three-week East Coast tour that was a revelation for the musicians. Here, they learned, fans are more than willing to contribute to the manic energy of their shows, Gat said.

After that first tour, the band was hooked on the thrill of playing to a receptive audience and began playing dozens of concurrent dates. Despite the strain of such a hectic schedule, Monotonix is a band that thrives in a live environment, feeding off the crowd’s energy and giving it back in kind, Gat said.

At JJ’s Bohemia, where the band will be playing Saturday on their way back from Austin’s South by Southwest music festival, the hope is they’ll meet the same openness to their sonic aggressiveness they’ve always had in the States.

“In America, rock ’n ’roll is in your culture — it’s in your blood,” Gat said. “There have been so many crazy, amazing bands that have toured America, so a lot of people have seen it all and aren’t surprised by anything, but we try to catch them off-guard anyway.”